Updating processes in episodic memory [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Bernhard Pastötter

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• Psychologie

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• Publié par: universitat_regensburg
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Updating Processes in Episodic Memory
Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwur¨ de
der Philosophischen Fakult¨at II
(Psychologie, P¨adagogik und Sportwissenschaft)
der Universit¨at Regensburg
vorgelegt von
¨Bernhard Pastotter
aus Freilassing
Regensburg 2007Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Ba¨uml
Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Mark W. Greenleeii
Abstract
The efficient use of episodic memory does not only require to remember new
information, it also requires to forget old information. That such memory
updatingispartofourmemorysystemissuggestedbybehavioralstudiesex-
aminingbothcontextualandintentionalmemoryupdating. Theelectrophys-
iological correlates of episodic memory updating, however, still remain elu-
sive. Toinvestigateepisodicmemoryupdating,thecontext-changeparadigm
and the directed-forgetting paradigm can be used. In the directed-forgetting
paradigm, subjects are cued to intentionally forget a previously learned item
list and to learn a new list of items instead. In the context-change paradigm,
subjects are cued to change their internal context between the learning of
two lists. Both forms of cuing typically lead to forgetting of the first list and
to memory enhancement of the second. The standard explanation of these
effects is that forgetting and enhancement are mediated by a single mech-
anism: context differentiation in contextual memory updating and retrieval
inhibition in intentional memory updating. In four experiments the neces-
sityofnewlearningaftercuepresentationandtheelectrophysiological(EEG)
correlates of forgetting and enhancement as they occur in these paradigms
were explored. In both paradigms, forgetting of the first list was only ob-
served when a second list was learned after cuing. Analysis of oscillatory
EEG activity revealed that the forgetting in contextual memory updating
was accompanied by an increase of theta phase coupling between scalp elec-
trodes which is suggested to reflect the establishment of a new mental List-2
context. On the other hand, the forgetting in intentional memory updat-
ing was accompanied by a decrease of upper alpha phase coupling which is
suggested to reflect an inhibitory disintegration of the to-be-forgotten infor-
mation. Thus, phase coupling mediated the forgetting both in contextual
and intentional memory updating, but in different frequency bands. In both
paradigms, memory enhancement was accompanied by an increase in upper
alpha band power which is suggested to reflect a change of encoding strategy
aftercuing. In sum, thepresentexperimentsrevealedseparateneuralorigins
of forgetting and memory enhancement and thus point to a two-mechanism
view of episodic memory updating.iii
Acknowledgments
IowemanythankstoKarl-Heinz B¨aumlforhiscordialsupervision. It’sgood
to have your reasoned advice, when things are getting complicated.
Special thanks to Simon Hanslmayr for support in data processing. I’m
very glad to got to know such a good friend and mentor in EEG analysis.
Thanks to Claus Arnold, Alp Aslan, Margit Frimberger, Christof Kuh-
bandner, Bernhard Spitzer, and Maria Wimber for giving me precious help
and for shearing ideas and coffee.
Many thanks to Johanna Kissler for offering data collection in her lab
and to Philipp Leipold, Anuscheh Samenieh, Renate Schmidtner, and Tobias
Staudigl who helped me running subjects.
I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my parents Josef and Erika
Past¨otter.Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Retrieval competition and memory updating . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Contextual memory updating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 Intentional memory updating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 Electrophysiology of memory processes 15
2.1 Oscillatory brain activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 Theta oscillations and episodic memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Upper alpha oscillations and semantic memory . . . . . . . . . 24
3 The present experiments 28
Memory updating and the role of post-cue encoding 30
3.1 Experiment 1a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.1 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2 Experiment 1b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.1 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
ivCONTENTS v
3.2.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Electrophysiology of contextual memory updating 43
3.3 Experiment 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.3.1 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Electrophysiology of intentional memory updating 55
3.4 Experiment 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.4.1 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4 General discussion 69
5 Literature 79Chapter 1
Introduction
Thecompany”LacunaInc.”isthebrainchildofDr. HowardMierzwiakwho,
after years of dedicated research, has developed a cutting-edge, non-surgical
procedure for the focused erasure of troubling memories. ”Lacuna Inc.” was
founded to provide a state of the art research facility for the development of
this procedure. Over the years as the project has progressed from a mere
idea into a full-blown medical service, ”Lacuna Inc.” has grown right along
with it. Now a full service clinic with a highly trained staff, ”Lacuna Inc.” is
just starting to tap into its potential. With hundreds of satisfied customers
already, ”Lacuna Inc.” is developing a strong reputation in the medical com-
munity. The procedure is offered to men and women of all ages, and it is
perfectly safe. So how does the procedure work?
Step One: The initial meeting. The first meeting with Dr. Mierzwiak
serves primarily as an introductory meeting where the patient will be given
a tour of the facility and a chance to meet the staff. After that, the patient
will sit down for a consultation with Dr. Mierzwiak. While the possibilities
for this procedure are endless, it is important that the patient and the doc-
tor have a full understanding of each other’s expectations for the patient’s
personal case. This helps the Lacuna team tailor the procedure to best serve
the patient.
Step Two: Preparing for the procedure. After a patient decides of the
specifics of what memory he/she is going to have erased, there is some initial
1CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 2
preparation that goes into a successful procedure. The patient is instructed
to collect any items or mementos that have any ties to the memory that is
being targeted. These items will be used by the Lacuna team during and
disposed of following the procedure. This is to ensure that the patient won’t
have any unexplainable items after the memory erasure.
Step Three: Mapping the memory. The team of Lacuna technicians will
use the information they have received and the items brought in by the
patient to create a map of the memory. They will then use this map to
extract the memory from the patients mind.
Step Four: The procedure. Following the map created specifically for
every patient, Dr. Mierzwiak and his team will begin to erase the target
memory. The procedure works on a reverse timeline, which means it begins
with the most recent memories and goes backwards in time. This approach
is designed to target the emotional core that every memory builds on. By
eradicating the core, Dr. Mierzwiak is able to make the entire memory dis-
solve. When the patient wakes up from the surgery, they remember nothing
of the targeted memory and the brain is up to store new memories.
Of course, ”Lacuna Inc.” is a fictional company in the 2004 romance film
”Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” by Charlie Kaufman and Michel
Gondry. The characters of Joel and Clementine used this procedure to erase
theirmemoriesoftheirloveaffair. Aspartofthescreenwritingandpromotion
for the film, a back-story for the technology was made, including a spoof
website for ”Lacuna Inc.” which is the source for the presented four-step
procedure. Today, such targeted memory erasure of episodes is a fictional
pro
1.1 Retrieval competition and memory up-
dating
Quite contrary to the idea of memory erasure, experimental research has
shown that, in large part, episodic forgetting does not occur because stored
information is destroyed or erased, but because, although available, infor-CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 3
mation becomes less accessible in large and growing networks in the brain
(Melton, 1963; Tulving, 1983). The amount of information stored in our
memory exceeds by far the amount of information that we can actually re-
trieve from it and, thus, episodic forgetting often occurs because retrieval of
specific memories fails (for a review, see Roediger & Guynn, 1996). Indeed,
in a series of experiments, Tulving and collea